Department for Transport

Roads: Accidents

Sir Mike Penning: If he will bring forward legislative proposals to allow roadside rescue and recovery operators to use red warning light on their vehicles; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: The Government recognises the important work that recovery operators perform. The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations (RVLR) 1989 permit the use of amber warning beacons capable of emitting a flashing or rotating beam of light to raise awareness of vehicles during recovery operations. Amber is a universally recognised signal colour. RVLR also permits the use of an illuminated warning sign which must show a steady light, and be red if showing to the rear of the vehicle, and white or in some circumstances yellow if showing to the front. There are no current plans to change the law.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Chalfont St Giles

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many of the 38 owner-occupiers in Chalfont St Giles who were sent a Land Interest Questionnaire by HS2 in the last three months will now have their land or part of their land taken on a temporary basis; for what period of time that land will be required; and what compensation will be offered.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: In late 2018, 38 enquiry documents (36 Land Interest Questionnaires and two Confirmation Schedules) were issued to the residents of Jack Hearne House. Design and investigation works are continuing and at this stage it is not known whether this land will ultimately be needed as part of the scheme. Subject to the results of investigation works it is expected that, if needed at all, any temporary requirement for land would relate to access to undertake works on the River Misbourne and should not directly impact the residents of the flats. It is premature to establish what, if any, level of expected compensation would be payable under Schedule 16 of the High Speed Rail (London to West Midlands) Act 2017.

Railways: Wales

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that British Members of Parliament are able to engage adequately with the Welsh Government on Wales and Borders train services; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: The new Welsh rail devolution arrangements established in 2018 in line with the recommendations of the Silk Commission strengthen the protection of English interests in the Wales & Borders franchise. In particular, a new dedicated Borders Business Unit will be established to act as a focal point for liaison with relevant stakeholders and users of Wales & Borders rail franchise train services in England.

Department for Transport: Legal Costs

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the highest hourly rate was that (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department's arms-length bodies paid for legal advice in 2018.

Jesse Norman: The Department consists of the central Department and four executive Agencies as follows: Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) The highest hourly rate that the Department paid for legal advice in 2018 is £640.00. The highest hour rate that each of the Department’s arms-length bodies paid for legal advice in 2018 as follows:Highways England£360.00Transport Focus£350.00British Transport Police Authority£400.00Northern Lighthouse Board£250.00Trinity House Lighthouse Service£400.00High Speed 2 Ltd£446.74Network Rail£690.00

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Lee Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will assess the potential merits of introducing a discretionary compensation scheme for tenants of properties let on a non-commercial basis who are impacted by the HS2 line construction.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Secretary of State has no plans to assess the potential merits of introducing a discretionary compensation specifically for tenants of non-commercial properties who are directly impacted by the construction of the HS2 line. The Secretary of State remains satisfied that existing statutory compensation arrangements, set out in the response to the hon. Member’s written question 206029 on 14 January 2019, remain the most appropriate way to support tenants who are directly impacted by the construction of the line. A package of non-statutory measures already exists, and continues to be developed by the Government, in order to properly support tenants and owners of properties which will not be required for construction but are in close proximity to HS2 works.

Northern: Industrial Disputes

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to resolve the industrial dispute affecting the Northern Rail network.

Andrew Jones: The industrial dispute is a matter between Northern, its employees and their union representative in which the Government cannot intervene directly. However, the Government is keen for these strikes to end. They are having a big impact on the people and businesses of so many communities across the North. The Government has written to the Rail North Partnership (through which the Department and Transport for the North co-manage the Northern franchise) expressing our clear support for a second member of staff on Northern trains who is focused on delivering excellent customer service. Northern have now confirmed to the RMT that there will continue to be a second appropriately trained member of staff on board the trains, and have guaranteed jobs and pay will be protected. The Government therefore continues to call on both parties to engage in talks and resolve the dispute.

Department for Transport: Pay

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the rate of remuneration for (a) cleaners, (b) security guards and (c) catering staff in his Department in (i) Greater London and (ii) outside Greater London.

Jesse Norman: The Department for Transport does not hold remuneration rates for cleaners, catering staff and security guards as these services are provided through a Total Facilities Management (TFM) contract, which has a fixed single monthly payment covering all services. Under that TFM contract all staff employed by the service provider are paid at least the National Minimum Wage.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Pay

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the rate of remuneration for (a) cleaners, (b) security guards and (c) catering staff in his Department in (i) Greater London and (ii) outside Greater London.

Richard Harrington: Cleaning, security and catering services are delivered to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy by external contractors. We do not hold detailed pay data for contractor employees. Specific rates are a matter for each individual contractor, but assurances are provided to ensure full compliance with the requirements of the National Living Wage. In April 2019 Government will increase the National Living Wage to £8.21 per hour. This is an above inflation increase that will see a full-time minimum wage worker over £2,750 better off over the course of a year compared to when the policy was introduced. We value all of our staff and they all deserve a fair and competitive wage, whether they are directly employed or working through our contractors. The Department has agreed with its facilities management and catering contractors that they will align the pay of their cleaning, catering, mailroom and security staff to the appropriate median rates for that occupation, as identified in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. The median applies from 1 March 2019 and will be aligned annually.

Attorney General

Serious Fraud Office

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Attorney General, what his powers are in relation to the Serious Fraud Office.

Robert Buckland: The Attorney General and Solicitor General superintend the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as set out in the Criminal Justice Act 1987 and are the ministers responsible to Parliament for the work of the SFO. The SFO was created and given its functions and powers by the Criminal Justice Act 1987; it exercises those functions on behalf of the Crown. It is a non-ministerial department headed by the Director. The SFO is therefore independent and makes its own investigative and prosecutorial decisions independently. Part of the role of the Law Officer is to protect that independence. The SFO also forms one of the ‘Law Officers’ Departments, and as such constitutes a public arm’s length body sponsored by the Attorney General’s Office. The terms of our sponsorship arrangement are set out in the Framework Agreement between the AGO and the SFO which was published on 22 January, replacing the 2009 Protocol document. The Framework Agreement is agreed between the Director of the SFO and the Law Officers.

Department of Health and Social Care

Department of Health and Social Care: Legal Costs

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the highest hourly rate was that (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department's arms-length bodies paid for legal advice in 2018.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government Legal Department (GLD) provides almost all of the Department’s legal services. The largest components are for general advisory and commercial advisory work. The Department pays for both of these on a fixed fee basis, and therefore hourly rates are not applicable for these areas of legal work.Hourly rates do apply where employment advisory and litigation work is provided by the GLD. In 2018, the highest hourly rate paid for such legal services was £180 for a Queen’s Counsel.It is only where specific legal advice is required that specialist firms of solicitors provide services for the Department, and these are engaged with the guidance of the GLD.The Department’s arm’s length bodies (ALBs) each have their own arrangements for securing legal services. The following table sets out the highest hourly rates for legal services in 2018 that ALBs paid.NameAmountCare Quality Commission£280Health Education England£250Health Research Authority£200Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority£350Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency£180NHS Blood and Transplant£200NHS Business Services Authority£145NHS Counter Fraud Authority£228NHS Digital£280NHS Improvement£250NHS Resolution£250National Institute for Health and Care Excellence£200Public Health England£222 The Department and two of its bodies, NHS England and the Human Tissue Authority, have engaged legal services from organisations other than the GLD. It has not been possible in these instances to provide the information requested as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Department for Education

Department of Education: Secondment

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many civil servants in his Department have been seconded to the Department for Exiting the European Union.

Anne Milton: The department has established mechanisms to deploy resource across the Civil Service to support the government’s most pressing priorities. Individual secondments and loans are agreed by line managers and based on business need. Managers stay in contact with staff throughout their time away and manage their return to the department. The department does not hold a central record detailing loans and secondments.

Erasmus+ Programme

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government plans to replace access to funding universities receive from the Erasmus+ programme for UK students undertaking placements abroad before 2020 in the event that the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019 without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: In the event that the UK leaves the EU with no agreement in place, the government’s underwrite guarantee will cover the payment of awards to UK applicants for all successful Erasmus+ bids submitted before the UK exits the EU.Further details are set out in the technical notice published in August 2018. We will provide further advice shortly.

Social Services: Greater London

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were referred to children’s social care for an assessment of need in (a) Greenwich and (b) Bexley in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what funding was provided for children’s services in (i) Greenwich and (ii) Bexley in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Nadhim Zahawi: The number of children referred to children’s social care is published in the annual ‘Characteristics of Children in need’ publication. The most recent publication is available on the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2017-to-2018/ and a table summarising the last five years for Greenwich and Bexley is attached.As children’s services are delivered through local government, the vast majority of their funding comes through the Local Government Finance Settlement. However, as the responsibilities, structure and makeup of local authorities and the Department for Education have changed a great deal since 2009, central funding [department spend] to local government and wider spending power measures therefore are not directly comparable over this period. Over the 5 year period from 2015-16 to 2019-20, councils have access, through the Settlement, to over £200 billion to deliver local services. For Bexley and Greenwich this means core spending power of: (Available figures)  2016-172017-182018-192019-20Bexley£155,154,372£157,014,982£159,902,295£162,024,253Greenwich£219,920,182£226,780,981£231,040,760£233,211,791Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/final-local-government-finance-settlement-england-2018-to-2019. This core spending power is un-ring fenced and it is for local authorities (LAs) to determine spend across different areas according to local priorities, including children’s services. In addition to this the Autumn Budget announced a further £410 million in 2019-20 for LAs to invest in adult and children’s social care services. It also announced £84 million of extra funding, over the next five years, to support LAs to invest in initiatives that improve social work practice and decision making.



209766_Number_of_referrals_in_the_years_&_rate
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Children: Social Services

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of central Government funding for children’s services in the most recent 12 months for which figures are available.

Nadhim Zahawi: Funding for children’s services is made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement which gives local authorities flexibility to target spending according to local needs and to fulfil their statutory responsibilities, including children’s services. Through the Settlement, the government has made available over £200 billion across this five-year spending period. Local authorities used this flexibility to spend around £9.4 billion on children and young people’s services in 2017-18.The government has listened to the sector which requested additional funding for social care. That is why we have provided flexibility of £410 million in grant funding for social care in 2019-20 to be directed according to what local authorities consider their top social care priorities, including children’s services.

Children and Young People

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the long-term economic benefits of early intervention services for children and young people.

Nadhim Zahawi: The government has funded the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) since 2013, including almost £2 million in 2018-2020, to assess, evaluate and disseminate evidence of what works. The EIF has assessed the benefits of a wide range of specific early intervention programmes, and suggested that whilst producing robust estimates is challenging, there is a compelling argument that the costs of intervening early are likely to pay off to society in economic terms. In particular, they highlight that the long-term economic benefits are considerable where early intervention leads to labour market gains, such as improvements in employment and earnings.The value of early intervention is reflected in statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ (2018), which is clear that providing early help is more effective in promoting children’s welfare than reacting later - playing an important part in supporting children and young people to achieve better outcomes. The government has also committed £920 million to the troubled families programme, an early intervention approach which aims to achieve significant and sustained improvement for families with multiple, high-cost problems.

Academies

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what records his Department keeps of the ministerial decision process relating to selection of sponsors of schools which are converted to academies.

Nadhim Zahawi: Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) act in the name of my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, and are accountable to him and to the National Schools Commissioner. RSCs are advised and challenged by Headteacher Boards (HTBs) comprised of outstanding academy headteachers and sector leaders. Half of all HTBs are directly elected by the academy sector. Working with their respective HTBs, RSCs are well placed to identify and commission the most appropriate support and intervention for underperforming schools and academies.The department publishes meeting notes of all HTB meetings. As well as containing other RSC decisions, HTB meeting notes also contain RSC decisions on the selection of sponsors for underperforming schools. HTB meeting notes are published every six weeks and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/headteacher-boards.

Teachers: Standards

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to update its document, Teachers’ standards: Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies, last updated in June 2013; and for what reason care experienced children are not identified as a cohort of children in Standard 5 of that document.

Nick Gibb: The Department is committed to ensuring that all children, regardless of background, have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. There are currently no plans to update the document, Teachers’ Standards: Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies. The document does reflect the needs of looked after children by setting out the expectation for teachers to: have a secure understanding of how a range of factors can inhibit pupils’ ability to learn and; have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, and be able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.Further information, including the reports of the independent review of the Teachers’ standards, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/teachers-standards.

Dyslexia

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people have been diagnosed with dyslexia in each of the last five years.

Nadhim Zahawi: The information requested is not held centrally.We publish the number and proportion of pupils with special educational needs, including the type of need in the annual ‘Special educational needs in England’ statistical release, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen.In the 2018 release ‘Special educational needs in England: 2018’, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2018, table 8 covers types of need. Pupils with special educational needs are recorded according to their primary type of need. The current types of need do not include a specific breakdown for dyslexia alone. These cases are expected to be recorded under ‘Specific Learning Difficulty’. No estimates of the number of children with dyslexia within this category have been made.

Ministry of Justice

Prosecutions: Drugs

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of prosecutions for psychoactive substances dealing.

Lucy Frazer: The number of prosecutions for offences relating to supply of psychoactive substances for the last 5 years are published and can be found in the ‘Experimental statistics: Principal offence proceedings and outcomes by Home Office offence code data tool’ at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2017. The relevant offences can be found by searching the ‘Detailed offence’ filter for psychoactive substances. Home Office are responsible for policy relating to the Psychoactive Substances Act.

Ministry of Justice: Recruitment

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, who was appointed to the role of Data Protection Officer in his Department on 4 November 2018.

Lucy Frazer: Mr J Chimes was appointed to the role of Data Protection Officer (Acting) (DPO) on 4 November 2018 for the parts of the Department that do not have their own DPO arrangements. Contact details for the DPO are available through the Department’s Personal Information Charter on the GOV.UK website. The URL is www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/personal-information-charter.

Ministry of Justice: Data Protection

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, where the contact details for his Department's Data Protection Officer are published; and (a) how and (b) when those contact details were communicated to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Lucy Frazer: Contact details for the Department’s Data Protection Officer are published in the Department’s Personal Information Charter available on the GOV.UK website. Those contact details were communicated with the Information Commissioner’s Office by email in advance of Data Protection Act 2018 coming into force. The URL for the Charter is www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/personal-information-charter.

Prison Sentences: Females

Victoria Prentis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the use of short prison sentences for women.

Lucy Frazer: In June 2018, we published the Female Offender Strategy which set out the Government’s aim to see fewer women in custody, especially on short term sentences. There is persuasive evidence that many women, particularly on short custodial sentences, can be better supported in the community on robust and effective community sentences. The Strategy set out a new programme of work to improve outcomes for female offenders and shift our emphasis from custody to the community. This included a £5m investment in community provision for female offenders over 2018/19 and 2019/20. We awarded £3.3m to 12 organisations last November, and on 23 January we announced a further £1.6m, which will benefit 17 organisations and 83 female rape support centres. We consider that the availability of intensive residential support packages, both at the point of sentencing and on release, is one important element in achieving the changes we want to see. We are therefore committed to working with local and national partners to develop a ‘residential women’s centre’ pilot in at least five sites across England and Wales. The Strategy is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/female-offender-strategy.

Secure Training Centres

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many hours on average per day young people spent unlocked from their rooms in each secure training centre in each of the last five years.

Edward Argar: The information requested is provided in the attached table. HMPPS are in the process of reviewing how this data is collected across each establishment in the Youth Estate. We are reforming youth custody to reduce violence and improve outcomes for children and young people. Our vision for a distinct service designed around the needs of young people includes staff specifically recruited and trained to work with children, education and healthcare provision that is tailored to need, and specialist units for the most vulnerable.



Table
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Prison Officers

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many band three to five prison officers at each high-security institution had (a) less than three years' experience and (b) three or more than three years’ service in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2018.

Rory Stewart: Table 1: HMPPS Prison Officer1 staff in post, by length of service2 (full time equivalent) as at 30th September 2010 and 2018September 2010FTEOrganisationLess than 3 years3 years and overTotal Prison Officer% less than 3 yearsBelmarsh28.5469.6498.26%Frankland29.0564.3593.35%Full Sutton13.0411.3424.33%Long Lartin66.3322.8389.017%Manchester20.0460.6480.64%Wakefield14.0398.2412.23%Whitemoor31.0369.0400.08%Woodhill44.0398.0442.010% September 2018FTEOrganisationLess than 3 years3 years and overTotal Prison Officer% less than 3 yearsBelmarsh169.0257.8426.840%Frankland106.0432.9538.920%Full Sutton117.0310.9427.927%Long Lartin49.0266.2315.216%Manchester182.0302.6484.638%Wakefield70.0261.5331.521%Whitemoor102.0263.0365.028%Woodhill227.5237.0464.549%   Notes to Table 1:Includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.Length of service in HMPPS calculated from most recent hire date. Where staff have transferred in from another Government Department or have transferred in through HMPPS taking over a function, length of service is calculated from entry to HMPPS. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate.

Prisons: Restraint Techniques

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many uses of force in each year from 2010 were (a) recorded at each high-security institution and (b) involved staff with less than three years’ experience.

Lucy Frazer: Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service require that all use of force in prisons must be rigorously reported and locally recorded. However, the data collated at the national level throughout all of the period specified is of unsatisfactory quality and consistency. Satisfactory nationally-collated data relating to the frequency of use of force in prisons is available for the period 2008/09 – 2011/12, and was published as part of the Equalities Annual Review (2011-2012). HMPPS are committed to ensuring that all use of force in prisons is lawful and reflects the highest standards. As part of our commitment to ensuring robust governance over the use of force we are working to identify ways to improve the quality, granularity and availability of use of force data locally and nationally. The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Prison Officers: Labour Turnover

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many band three to five prison officers at each high-security institution left within three years of starting their role in each year from 2010.

Lucy Frazer: We commend our hard-working prison officers who do a vital job in protecting the public every day, often in challenging and difficult circumstances. We want prison officers to stay and progress their careers. We’ve improved induction processes to ease transition into the job, provide care and support for our staff and offer additional training. These measures are part of the work we are doing directly with Governors to address local issues and ensure experienced staff and new recruits remain in the service. Prison officer recruitment levels have varied in recent years as can be seen in table 1 below. In the four years to March 2014 1,358 officer were appointed. In the four years to March 2018 11,221 officer were appointed.There will be more junior role officer leavers with short service in recent years as there are more staff in post with short service. Table 1:   Band 3 Prison Officers1 appointed12 months ending 31 Mar 201112 months ending 31 Mar 201212 months ending 31 Mar 201312 months ending 31 Mar 201412 months ending 31 Mar 201512 months ending 31 Mar 201612 months ending 31 Mar 201712 months ending 31 Mar 201812 months ending 30 Sep 2018 Total7802342061381,6801,9762,3225,2436,060  Note to Table 1:Includes officer conversions as well as direct recruits.  Table 2: HMPPS Prison Officer1 leavers, with length of service2 at leaving of less than three years for High Security prisions (headcount)  Prison12 months ending 31/3/1012 months ending 31/3/1112 months ending 31/3/1212 months ending 31/3/1312 months ending 31/3/1412 months ending 31/3/1512 months ending 31/3/1612 months ending 31/3/1712 months ending 31/3/1812 months ending 30/09/18 Belmarsh3~~~5~5101016(p)Frankland~~~000~~88(p)Full Sutton30~~0~~~717(p)Long Lartin55~0~~~4109(p)Manchester~00000~82129(p)Wakefield~00000~057(p)Whitemoor~~~~038767(p)Woodhill63~3~44102834(p)Total221399711184295127  Notes to Table 2Includes Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.Length of service in HMPPS calculated from most recent hire date. Where staff have transferred in from another Government Department or have transferred in through HMPPS taking over a function, length of service is calculated from entry to HMPPS.As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate.(p) Provisional data.~ Denotes suppressed values of 2 or fewer or other values which would allow values of 2 or fewer to be derived by subtraction. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998.

Offences Against Children: Sports

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to extend position of trust laws to sports coaches.

Lucy Frazer: Any sexual activity with a child under 16 is a criminal offence, regardless of whether consent is given. Any non-consensual sexual activity is also a crime, whatever the age of the victim and whatever the relationship between the victim and perpetrator. Where a manipulative offender grooms a child prior to them reaching the age of consent and then engages in a sexual relationship with them when they are over 16, this could be prosecuted under offences such as Section 15a of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. We remain absolutely committed to protecting children and young people from sexual abuse and we already have a wide range of criminal offences under which to prosecute and sentence those who carry out such acts. We continue to keep this under review.

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Legal Costs

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the highest hourly rate was that (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department's arms-length bodies paid for legal advice in 2018.

George Hollingbery: The highest hourly rate paid by the Department for International Trade for external legal advice in 2018 was £816ph. This was for a piece of urgent foreign law advice for which it was not possible to use the usual Government Legal Services Panels. The advice was subject to an overall fee cap and only 4.4 hours was charged at the £816 hourly rate. The Department for International Trade does not currently have any arms-length bodies.

Department for International Trade: Pay

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what information his Department holds on the rate of remuneration for (a) cleaners, (b) security guards and (c) catering staff in his Department in (i) Greater London and (ii) outside Greater London.

George Hollingbery: Cleaning, security guarding and catering services in buildings managed by the Department are outsourced under a facilities management contract. Specific rates of pay are a matter for each individual contractor, as the employer, but assurances are provided to ensure full compliance with the requirements of the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage. Where the Department for International Trade is a tenant in buildings belonging to other Government departments, this information is not held.

Board of Trade

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, who the members of the reconvened Board of Trade are; and what assessment he has made of the most significant achievements of that Board for the Scottish economy have been since June 2017.

George Hollingbery: The Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP Secretary of State for International Trade, in his role as President of the Board of Trade, Chairs the Board of Trade meetings. The advisers can be found online: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/board-of-trade. The Board meets four times a year, with meetings rotated around the UK. Doing so guarantees all parts of the Union have a chance to raise the issues most important to them. The Board has met five times since it was convened in October 2017. The third meeting took place at Stirling Castle on 17 May 2018. The networking reception involved local Scottish businesses and government representatives, and aimed to support and celebrate trade and investment with Scotland. During the reception the Secretary of State for International Trade launched the High Potential Opportunities programme (part of the FDI Strategy) and presented Board of Trade Awards to Aggreko, Alexander Dennis Limited, Bowalds Energy Ltd, Speyside Distillers Company Limited, Enerquip Limited and McGavigan Ltd. The Board of Trade Awards celebrate businesses which show exceptional innovation, deliver prosperity to their local communities, and champion free trade. The National Trade Academy Programme also ran a Global Trade and Investment Seminar on 17 May 2018 in Stirling, which brought together expert speakers from academia, business and government to discuss the importance of trade and internationalization for business. Over 50 students from three local academic institutions had the opportunity to gain insight into the importance of international trade and investment in national economic

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Homelessness: Midlands

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what schemes that tackle homelessness in the Midlands receive government funding.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: This Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy which sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period.Local authorities in the Midlands are receiving funding from the following government programmes:Homelessness Prevention TrailblazersRough Sleeping InitiativeHousing First PilotsRapid Rehousing Programme

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Pay

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the rate of remuneration for (a) cleaners, (b) security guards and (c) catering staff in his Department in (i) Greater London and (ii) outside Greater London.

Jake Berry: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government does not directly employ (a) cleaners (b) security guards and (c) catering staff.Cleaning, security guarding and catering services in buildings managed by the Department are outsourced under facilities management contracts. Suppliers are responsible for setting rates of pay for their staff and rates vary dependent on their age, location and market rates. All suppliers are required to pay, as a minimum, either the National Minimum Wage or the National Living Wage. The rates set by government for the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage are to rise in April 2019.Cleaning, security guarding and catering services to the Department’s headquarters based in 2 Marsham Street are provided under a contract managed by the Home Office.

Department for Work and Pensions

Children: Maintenance

Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many historical arrears cases there were at the beginning of the migration of cases from the Child Support Agency to the Child Maintenance Service.

Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many historical arrears cases have been transferred from the Child Support Agency to the Child Maintenance Service.

Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many arrears-only cases are registered with the Child Maintenance Service.

Justin Tomlinson: Data is available on the number of arrears only cases registered with the Child Support Agency (CSA). This is available in Table 2 of the Child Support Agency Case Closure Statistics: June 2014 - September 2018 (below). https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-case-closures-june-2014-to-september-2018 Statistics on the total number of Child Support Agency arrears only cases that have been transferred to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), and the number of CSA arrears only cases on the CMS caseload are published in Table 8 of the same publication (Child Support Agency Case Closure Statistics). This publication shows that as of September 2018 there were 171,700 CSA arrears only cases on the Child Maintenance Service Caseload. Data on the number of cases with arrears accrued within the Child Maintenance Service is available from Child Maintenance Service Administrative Data. This shows that, as of September 2018, there were 6,700 cases where arrears have been accumulated solely within CMS and liability has ended. There are a further 2,700 cases with both CMS and CSA arrears where liability has ended.*   Case closure is part of the government’s 2012 vision for child maintenance reforms designed to encourage parents to consider making collaborative family based arrangements. Since 2014, cases with the Child Support Agency have been closed in a phased manner as part of the transition to the Child Maintenance Service. To provide CSA clients with an opportunity to consider their choice of future maintenance arrangement – including whether they could make a family based arrangement – they are signposted to the Child Maintenance Options service as part of the closure process. Following Parliamentary approval of new regulations in December 2018, the Department is now implementing its Child Maintenance Compliance and Arrears Strategy which includes finally dealing with the remaining arrears only CSA cases. Where there is a prospect that it may be cost effective to do so, we are offering parents a chance to ask the department to attempt to collect the outstanding arrears. Arrears that are not cost effective to attempt to collect and those which parents do not want us to pursue, will be written off. *Please note that the data supplied on arrears accrued within the Child Maintenance Service are derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Curlews: Conservation

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 8 November 2018 to Question 186211 and of 28 November 2018 to Question 196767 on Birds: Conservation, and with reference to the completion in November 2017 of phase 2 of the Special Protection Area review, what guidance he has received on improving the network for breeding and non-breeding curlew.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The phase two report highlights that there are currently no Special Protection Areas (SPAs) classified for breeding curlew in the UK. In England, the review identifies some potential areas that could be considered for classification including at existing SPAs. We are still considering this review.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Pay

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the rate of remuneration for (a) cleaners, (b) security guards and (c) catering staff in his Department in (i) Greater London and (ii) outside Greater London.

George Eustice: Defra’s office cleaners, security guards and catering staff are provided through outsourced suppliers. These suppliers hold information on the rate of remuneration of their staff, however our contracts with the suppliers require all staff to be paid the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, as a minimum. The Living Wage Foundation rates can be found at the Living Wage Foundation website (https://www.livingwage.org.uk/). There is a rate for London based staff and a rate for staff based outside of London.

Ivory

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on the consultation to include additional ivory species in the Ivory Act 2018, and whether he has set a date for this consultation to be published.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We are currently preparing for a call for evidence to be issued in the spring.

Home Office

Police: Pensions

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential effect of changes to employee pension contributions on police numbers.

Mr Nick Hurd: Home Office and Treasury Ministers have regular discussions covering a number of issues including changes to pension schemes. In his Budget speech, the Chancellor committed to providing funding to support the police with additional pensions costs.On 13 December we announced our proposed police funding settlement for 2019/20 which provides up to £970 million of additional investment in the policing system. This includes £153 million of additional pensions funding, £161 million in increased general grants and up to £509 million of additional funding from council tax precept, if Police and Crime Commissioners use the full flexibility provided. This provides enough funding for the police to meet their increased costs, while continuing to recruit and fill capability gaps like the shortage of investigators.

Immigrants: Personal Records

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on incidents of damage or loss to large quantities of immigration records in the last 20 years.

Caroline Nokes: The department has no central record of any incident of damage or loss to large quantities of immigration records in the last twenty years.

Immigrants: Personal Records

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of records of immigration status that have been (a) lost and (b) damaged in the last 20 years.

Caroline Nokes: The Case Information Database (CID) has been the source immigration case working system since 1998. Individual records of immigration status have therefore been digitised for the last 20 years. CID undergoes nightly back-ups to tape and has replication between the primary and secondary data centres.There has been no systematic loss of immigration status records. Where any individual cases are identified or raised as having incorrect or incomplete records, these are treated as an absolute priority.

Police: Pensions

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 6 September on Quadrennial valuations of the public service pension schemes, HCWS945, whether (a) he and (b) the Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service held discussions with (i) the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and (ii) the Chancellor of the Exchequer prior to that Statement's publication on the implications of those valuations on policing.

Mr Nick Hurd: Home Office and Treasury Ministers have regular discussions covering a number of issues including changes to pension schemes. In his Budget speech, the Chancellor committed to providing funding to support the po-lice with additional pensions costs.On 13 December we announced our proposed police funding settlement for 2019/20 which provides up to £970 million of additional investment in the policing system. This includes £153 million of additional pensions funding, £161 million in increased general grants and up to £509 million of additional funding from council tax precept, if Police and Crime Commissioners use the full flexibility provided. This provides enough funding for the police to meet their increased costs, while continuing to recruit and fill capability gaps like the shortage of investigators.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report, EU Settlement Scheme  Private Beta 1, what assessment he has made of the reason for the nine people who had valid PR/ILR documentation not being granted settled status.

Caroline Nokes: Where an applicant declares they hold valid Permanent Residence documentation / Indefinite Leave to Remain, this is checked against Home Office records. If the declared status cannot be confirmed, we work with the applicant to ensure they obtain the leave under the scheme for which they qualify. The nine cases referred to from the private beta 1 test have all now been granted leave under the scheme.

Asylum: Detainees

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people that had applied for asylum in the UK were detained in each category for detention in 2018.

Caroline Nokes: The UK has a proud history to providing refuge to those who need our protection. Information on the number of asylum claims, subsequent grants of asylum and humanitarian protection, irrespective of whether the individual was detained, is available in table as_01 of the latest release of the ‘Immi-gration Statistics, Year Ending September 2018’. This is available on the Home Office website at; https:// https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2018-data-tablesInformation on people entering detention in 2018 is available in table dt_01 of the detention tables in the latest release of ‘Immigration Statistics, Year Ending September 2018’, available from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/681703/detention-september-2018-tables.odsThe table shows the figures broken down by those who have claimed asylum at some point.

Asylum: Children

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied minors seeking asylum were detained by the UK in 2018.

Caroline Nokes: Unaccompanied minors are not detained for asylum purposes in the UK.Information on people entering detention by age, sex and place of initial detention (as at year ending September 2018) can be found in table dt_01_q of the detention tables, which can be found in the latest release of ‘Immigration Statistics’, available from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2018/list-of-tables#detention

Immigrants: Deportation

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many disabled migrants were removed from the UK in each year since 2010.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office does not hold central records of migrant disabilities. Providing the information requested would require a manual check of individual records which could only be done at disproportionate cost.

Refugees: Bangladesh

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that refugees in the Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Bangladesh who are eligible to apply for leave to remain in the UK are able to access the (a) identity and (b) health checks required for that application process.

Caroline Nokes: Visa Application Centres and approved medical screening centres in Dhaka and Sylhet provide applicants with facilities to provide the required information for visa applications.The Government of Bangladesh does not currently permit refugees living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar to leave the camps either for the purpose of making a visa application or to leave Bangladesh to travel to a third country.The British High Commission has raised this issue with the Government of Bangladesh, but the Government of Bangladesh position remains unchanged.

UK Visas and Immigration: Staff

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many officials were responsible for examining and making decisions on asylum applications at the end of November 2018.

Caroline Nokes: The number of officials who were responsible for examining and making decisions on asylum applications at the end of November 2018 are maintained at a level that allows the Home Office to progress cases in line with current service standards.Decisions on asylum claims are made by Decision Makers in Asylum Operations; and the Home Office has rolling recruitment campaigns to maintain the number of Decision MakersAll asylum claims lodged in the UK are carefully considered on their individual merits against a background of relevant case law and up to date country information

Asylum: Detainees

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have applied for asylum while in immigration detention in 2018.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office does not hold the information you have requested in a reportable format or within published statistics. The information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

Asylum: Nationality

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many inadmissibility decisions based on the concept of first country of asylum were made by the UK in 2018 by country designated as first country of asylum.

Caroline Nokes: The UK is committed to providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with its international obligations.Information regarding how many inadmissible decisions based on the concept of first country of asylum made by the UK in 2018 by country designated as first country of asylum is not recorded and held in a reportable format.This could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.

Asylum: EU Countries

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time for a transfer under the Dublin III regulation procedure is from the moment an outgoing request is issued to the UK to the transfer to the Member State responsible.

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time for a transfer under the Dublin III regulation procedure is from the moment another Member State accepts responsibility to the transfer from the UK to that Member State.

Caroline Nokes: The Dublin III Regulation is a long-standing mechanism between EU Member States to determine responsibility for examining asylum claims. It is not an application route for transfer to the UK. At present we do not publish data on cases covered by the Dublin Regulation. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, regularly publishes Member State figures, which can be found at: http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=migr_dubto&lang=enUnder the Dublin III Regulation, member states have two months from receiving a request from another participating Member State to accept or reject responsibility for processing the asylum claim. Once a Dublin request has been accepted, the Regulation provides that the sending Member State has six months to enact the transfer. The Home Office works closely with EU Member State partners to enact transfers as soon as possible and ahead of the six-month timeframe.

Refugees: Welfare State

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Post Grant Appointment Service in ensuring that refugees are able to access the welfare system following a decision to grant asylum.

Caroline Nokes: As described by the British Red Cross in their report ‘Still an ordeal: the move-on period for new refugees’, the Post Grant Appointment Service is effective in setting up an early appointment for the refugees with their local Jobcentre, thus enabling them to make an application for mainstream benefits before they leave the asylum support system.We will provide more information about the service when we respond to the British Red Cross report in due course

Asylum: Employment

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support to gain employment is available for asylum-seekers.

Caroline Nokes: Whilst the Home Office does not provide specific support to gain employment, asylum seekers are permitted to work, in jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, if they have been waiting for a decision on their claim for 12 months or more and the delay is through no fault of their own.Those granted refugee status or humanitarian protection have immediate and unrestricted access to the labour market and benefits. Unemployed refugees are entitled to receive employment support from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Home Office: Migrant Workers

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of his Department paying the £65 application fee for settled or pre-settled status for EU nationals (a) employed by and (b) working as an outsourced worker in his Department; what estimate he has made of the total cost to his Department of paying those fees; and what assessment he has made of the risks that the EU Settlement Scheme poses to the retention of EU nationals (i) employed by or (ii) working as an outsourced worker in his Department.

Caroline Nokes: The setting of the fee for the EU Settlement Scheme is proportionate and fair and people have until June 2021 to apply. The department has no plans to cover the cost of the fee for its employers or contractors. The Government has continually made clear that we wish EU citizens already here to continue to live and work broadly as they do now.

Knives: Crime Prevention

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to reduce knife crime.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is very concerned about increases in knife crime and its impact on victims, families and communities. The action we are taking is set out in our Serious Violence Strategy and includes new legislation in the Offensive Weapons Bill, which completed its passage through the House of Commons on 28 November. The Bill includes specific new knives offences, in particular making it an offence to possess certain offensive weapons in private, and stopping knives being sent to residential addresses after they are bought online.We have also introduced a number of other measures, including the £1.5m anti-knife crime Community Fund to support local initiatives, with funding to an additional sixty-eight projects this year. In addition, the #knifefree media campaign to raise awareness of the consequences of knife crime and discourage young people from carrying knives is continuing, and all police forces continue to participate in Operation Sceptre, which includes targeted stop and searches, weapon sweeps of hotspot areas, test purchases of knives from retailers, and educational events.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he will take to ensure that safeguards are in place under EU Settlement Scheme to protect victims of domestic abuse.

Caroline Nokes: The Immigration Rules on eligibility for status under the EU Settlement Scheme reflect the provision made by the Free Movement Directive for victims of domestic abuse to retain the right of residence in the UK in particular circumstances. This is in line with the draft WithdrawalAgreement with the European Union. We are also putting in place a range of measures to ensure that the scheme is accessible to potentially vulnerable individuals. We are working closely with a user group of external stakeholders who represent the needs of such individuals, including victims of domestic abuse, to ensure that the right support arrangements are put in place.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional support will be made available to people who cannot afford the EU Settlement Scheme application fee.

Caroline Nokes: The approach to fees is reasonable, proportionate and fair to all EU citizens. Nonetheless, the situation will be kept under review as we move forward with the implementation of the scheme.

Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Unit: Finance

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding from the public purse his Department has allocated to the National Crime Agency's Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Unit.

Victoria Atkins: The National Crime Agency (NCA) allocates its resources flexibly to respond to serious and organised crime including modern slavery and human trafficking.The NCA’s dedicated Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Unit consists of approximately 55 posts, including the National Referral Mechanism Competent Authority. This Unit draws on assistance from across the NCA to boost the overall resources deployed at any one time against this threat. Therefore, it is not possible to provide an exact figure for the total spend.

Domestic Violence

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of recent reductions in police numbers on police forces' responses to domestic violence.

Victoria Atkins: We recognise that there are significant demands on the police from the changing nature of crime, with more victims of high harm crimes such as domestic abuse coming forward. The provisional 2019/20 police funding settlement announced on 13 December builds on this year’s total increase in police funding of £460m. The police workforce has remained stable over the past year and the number of people joining police forces has increased by 58% since 2015/16.Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Service’s last inspection into domestic abuse found that police forces in England and Wales have a strong commitment to protecting victims of domestic abuse. Forces are continuing to invest in public protection and staff numbers have increased in many safeguarding units, with people being moved from other departments to provide more resilience.

Fraud: Criminal Investigation

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the current average waiting time for fraud cases to be allocated for investigation by police forces in England; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold information on the length of time taken to allocate fraud cases to police forces for investigation. The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau is responsible for determining whether there are sufficient grounds to allocate a fraud case to the police for investigation. It is then a matter for receiving forces to determine if they are going to undertake an investigation, which is driven by local resourcing and priorities.

Unexplained Wealth Orders

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Office, how many Unexplained Wealth Orders have been invoked in each month since they were introduced.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Home Office does not comment on particular cases. The SFO investigates and prosecutes only the most serious or complex fraud, bribery and corruption cases.The decision to commence an investigation is that of the Director alone. Government cannot interfere with the operational independence of investigative or prosecutorial agencies. As new tools, it is important that courts and law enforcement establishes the use and process to ensure that they deliver the correct objectives.

Asylum: Undocumented Migrants

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his oral contribution of 7 January 2019, Official Report, column 85, how many asylum seekers arriving on the Kent coast since 1 October 2018 had their applications deemed as inadmissible; and what the basis was for deeming those applications as inadmissible.

Caroline Nokes: Over 500 migrants, the majority of whom are Iranian nationals, attempted to travel to the UK on small vessels in 2018. The vast majority of those attempts were made in the last three months of the year. We are unable to state how many applications from this route have been considered inadmissible, as these cases are still being processed.We are working to utilise all legislative powers available to ensure we protect our borders and deter illegal migration. To do so, we are working closely with safe third countries to explore the return of asylum claimants to them, where evidence supports this assertion.Those who need international protection should claim in the first safe country they reach, as that is the fastest route to safety, rather than risk their lives trying to enter other countries unlawfully.For those we are unable to deem inadmissible, Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Treatment of Claimants Act 2004 will be considered when assessing their case. This legislation states that failure to take advantage of a reasonable opportunity to claim asylum in a safe country shall be taken in to account in assessing the individual’s credibility.

Undocumented Migrants: EU Action

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the UK has made on the effectiveness of the EU's Operation Sophia in deterring illegal migrants who seek entry into the UK.

Caroline Nokes: Operation SOPHIA is just one part of the EU’s overall approach to tackling the migration crisis of 2015 onwards. It aims to break the smugglers’ business model in North Africa, alongside other interventions in the EU’s comprehensive approach to reducing migration flows, which also includes work in countries of origin and transit to reduce the need of migrants to leave their home country or move on from a safe third country in their region.The Operation means that smuggling networks can no longer operate with impunity in Central Mediterranean international waters and it has put over 551 smuggling vessels beyond use and rescued over 44,000 migrants.Operation Sophia is considered to have contributed to a reduction in the volume of migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean into Italy, and complements other EU work to reduce secondary movements across Europe, including towards France and the Channel ports. However, it is not possible to make a direct correlation between Operation Sophia and arrivals on the English coast

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the number of fires involving buildings below 18 metres in height that were (i) clad and (ii) insulated with combustible building materials in each year for which information is available.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office do not hold this information.

Disclosure and Barring Service: Tata Consultancy Services

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total value is of contracts between his Department and Tata Consultancy Services for work on the Disclosure and Barring Service; and if he will make a statement.

Victoria Atkins: As published in the DBS’ 2017/18 Annual Report and Accounts the overall value of agreed costs with Tata Consultancy Services is £224m (inc.VAT). This includes the values of the original contract plus any agreed Contract Change Notes and Requests for Change.

Disclosure and Barring Service: Standards

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of occasions on which referrals to the Disclosure and Barring Service have been set aside for over (a) one, (b) six, and (c) nine months.

Victoria Atkins: Referrals to the Disclosure and Barring Service are not set aside as their operating procedures do not allow for this. Barring cases are triaged and reviewed upon receipt and allocated in line with workflow processes.Under DBS’ published service standards their aim is to close more than 65% of barring cases within three months. Performance data on attainment of this standard in 2017-2018 can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018.DBS also publishes quarterly performance data on barring cases and appeals against barring decisions relating to revised internal performance standards here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-dataset-4-barring-cases-and-appeals.

Disclosure and Barring Service: Swiss Post Solutions

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total value is of contracts between his Department and Swiss Post Solutions for work outsourced from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total value is of contracts between his Department and Swiss Post Solutions for work outsourced from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the quality of service provided by Swiss Post Solutions on work outsourced from the Disclosure and Barring Service; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of occasions on which sensitive information has been attached to incorrect case files by Swiss Post Solutions in the course of work outsourced from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Victoria Atkins: DBS do not have a contract with Swiss Post Solutions. Swiss Post Solutions is a sub-contractor of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).Swiss Post Solutions, as a sub-contractor, are managed by TCS. TCS report on service level agreements and key performance indicators relating to work conducted by Swiss Post Solutions and their performance is monitored by the DBS.Swiss Post Solutions handle more than 6,000 pieces of correspondence each month relating to DBS barring business, and have been used for barring since 4 September 2017. In this time the DBS have been informed of one occasion on which information was attached to an incorrect case file. This error was identified and remedied internally before any correspondence was sent.

Disclosure and Barring Service: Data Protection

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of whether the tool to redact sensitive case information used by the Disclosure and Barring Service is fit for purpose.

Victoria Atkins: DBS uses a tool to redact sensitive documents which was selected by its technology service provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). DBS has reported some issues with the redaction functionality. These issues have been raised with TCS, and a new software release is currently in test for deployment.

Crime: Lancashire

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the trends in the level of (a) knife crime, (b) gun crime, (c) homicides and (d) gang-related crime in (i) Preston constituency and (ii) Lancashire.

Victoria Atkins: On 9 April 2018, the Government published the Serious Violence Strategy to set out the action it is taking to address serious violence, and in particular the recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide.We have reviewed the evidence and the strategy sets out the trends and drivers of serious violence. The evidence shows that homicide, knife crime and gun crime have increased since 2014 across virtually all police force areas in England and Wales, including Lancashire. The increases have been accompanied by a shift towards younger victims and perpetrators. The analysis in the Serious Violence Strategy shows that changes in the drugs market is a major factor in the recent increases.The attached table shows the statistics for offences involving knives or sharp instruments, firearms, robbery and homicide in England and Wales at police force level. Data is not collected for areas below police force level.



SV June 2018 - Stats 
(Excel SpreadSheet, 299.5 KB)

Police: Pensions

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has estimated the potential cost of granting lifelong pensions for all police widows in England and Wales.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police widows pensions ceased due to remarriage in each year since 1987.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the differences are in provision for police widows in the police pension schemes of (a) 1987, (b) 2006 and (c) 2015.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police widows have had their pensions revoked under the Police Pensions Regulations 1987 because they have remarried or moved in with a new partner for each police service in England and Wales.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the cost per annum of reinstating widows pensions that have been revoked under the 1987 Police pension regulations for each Police Service in England and Wales.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the current average police widows pension under the 1987 police pension regulations for each police service in England and Wales.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many serving police officers in each police force in England and Wales are members of the Police pension scheme 1987.

Mr Nick Hurd: All three occupational police pension schemes provide valuable benefits for survivors on the death of the member. The 2006 and 2015 scheme benefits are broadly the same. The main differences between these schemes and the 1987 scheme are: benefits paid for life, rather than ceasing on remarriage or cohabitation; benefits for partners as well as spouses and civil partners; and lower survivor benefits as a proportion of the pension payable to the member.The Home Office does not hold information on the number of survivors’ pensions surrendered on remarriage or cohabitation. Detailed information on the police pension scheme is held by each Police Pension Authority.We have estimated with the Government’s Actuary’s Department, by using historical actuarial data, that the total cost of retaining benefits for all police survivors would increase the police scheme liabilities by around £144m. Reinstatement of pensions already surrendered, would increase the police scheme liabilities to around £198m. No annual estimate is available.As at 31 March 2016 there were 82,268 serving police officers who were active members of the 1987 police pension scheme, including those who had moved to the 2015 scheme for future pension accrual. The average survivor’s pension as at 31 March 2016 was £9,450 a year – while this is not exclusively attributable to the 1987 police pension scheme, most pensions in payment in 2016 will be in respect of that scheme.

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Pay

Gareth Snell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the rate of remuneration for (a) cleaners, (b) security guards and (c) catering staff in his Department in (i) Greater London and (ii) outside Greater London.

Oliver Dowden: The majority of facilities management services, which include cleaning, security, and catering, are outsourced to an independent provider with the exception of one central London location that manages their own cleaning and security. All outsourced and self-delivered facilities management staff are paid the National Living Wage or above.

Treasury

Migrant Workers: Taxation

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what contribution to the pubic purse has been made by non-EU citizens in employment via (a) National Insurance contributions, (b) income tax, and (c) indirect taxation in each of the last three years.

Mel Stride: The table below shows the total Income Tax and National Insurance contributions (class 1 and class 4) paid by non-EU citizens in the tax years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. Estimates for 2016-17 will be published as official statistics in August 2019. It is not possible to identify from indirect tax receipts how much was paid by non-EU nationals.Tax YearTotal Income Tax (£millions)Total National Insurance Contributions (£millions)2013-1410,3126,7712014-1510,5026,9432015-1611,3167,350The estimates provided are based on HMRC’s Survey of Personal Incomes and HMRC’s records of individuals’ nationality at the point of registering for a National Insurance number. Nationality in this dataset does not update if the individual changes their nationality.Equivalent statistics for EU and EEA nationals are published by HMRC: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-tax-nics-tax-credits-and-child-benefit-statistics-for-eea-nationals-2015-to-2016The estimates have been produced using the same methodology as for the published statistics on EEA nationals

Members: Correspondence

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Bridgend of 13 November 2018, reference MM/JH/12/11/2018.

Mel Stride: HM Revenue and Customs are currently investigating the issues raised in your original correspondence as they relate to operational tax matters. They aim to get back to you as soon as possible.

Cash Dispensing: Fees and Charges

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions his Department has had with LINK on the interchange rate for ATMs.

John Glen: The Government recognises that widespread access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses in the UK. Government is continuing to engage with the regulators and industry, including LINK, on this issue. LINK has cancelled its third interchange fee reduction, due in January 2020, and put on hold its fourth reduction, due in January 2021, pending further review. The Payment Systems Regulator, who regulates LINK, has welcomed these adjustments, having stated that LINK must carefully review its decisions on interchange fees to reflect changing market conditions.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Arts: Young People

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support young people from deprived backgrounds to progress in the creative industries.

Margot James: We recognise that more needs to be done to ensure that the workforce of the Creative Industries better reflects the diversity of UK society. The need to broaden access was highlighted in the 2018 Creative Industries sector deal.Amongst other measures, we are providing £2 million seed funding for an industry-led Creative Careers Programme over the next 4 years to improve the supply of talent and open up opportunities to a broader audience.Additionally, the British Film Institute (BFI) leads on a number of initiatives to encourage people from all backgrounds to pursue careers in the screen sector, from the BFI diversity standards to the BFI Film Academy. We will also continue to work with industry through the joint government-industry Creative Industry Council to open up employment opportunities in the sector. The CIC have identified this issue as a priority, setting out a set of actions to improve diversity across the industry in its “Create Together” growth strategy.

Film: Tax Allowances

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the recommendation made by the Film Diversity Action Group that film tax breaks should be conditional on the achievement of diversity targets  on the (a) finances of and (b) levels of diversity in companies in the film industry.

Margot James: We recognise that there is more to be done to ensure that the screen sector and the wider creative industries reflects the diversity of UK society. DCMS is working with the British Film Institute (BFI) to drive improved diversity by promoting the uptake of the BFI Diversity Standards. These focus on training as well as representation, and are designed to drive lasting change in the workforce. The BFI has set a target of all producers active in the UK having voluntarily accepted the BFI Diversity Standards by 2022. The operation of tax relief is a matter for the Treasury.

Film: Equality

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make it his policy to require film companies to include in paperwork submitted for film classification, data on the level of diversity of those companies.

Margot James: We recognise the need to improve the collection of diversity data in the screen industries to inform diversity and inclusion initiatives. Amongst other measures, DCMS is working with its arm’s length body for film and moving image, the British Film Institute (BFI) to promote the BFI Diversity Standards. These focus on training as well as representation, and are designed to drive lasting change in the workforce. The BFI has set a target of all producers active in the UK having voluntarily accepted the BFI Diversity Standards by 2022. Monitoring and publishing the impact of the standards is a core part of the BFI’s commitment to ensuring these standards drive meaningful change.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Pay

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what information his Department holds on the rate of remuneration for (a) cleaners, (b) security guards and (c) catering staff in his Department in (i) Greater London and (ii) outside Greater London.

Margot James: DCMS is based only in Greater London, and all our properties have facilities management provided by other Government departments.

Charities: Fund Raising

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that online fundraising platforms advertise prominently on their webstes, information on deductions from donations for fees charged.

Mims Davies: Online fundraising platforms raise significant funds for charitable causes. Therefore high standards of transparency are important to allow donors to make informed decisions. Part 2 of the Charities Act 1992 already requires all professional fundraisers, including online fundraising platforms, to inform potential donors of fees and charges. Furthermore, the Fundraising Regulator has updated the Code of Fundraising Practice to include requirements for these platforms, including new transparency requirements about charges.